Steel market in China has maintained customary downtrend losing another 2% in June. With no signs of any turnaround in vicinity it calls for no prophecy to verdict new lows in coming month.

According to the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), daily crude steel output of key steelmakers reporting to the CISA came to 1.8367 million tonnes in mid-Jun, rising by 4.1 thousand tonnes or 0.22% from the preceding ten days ago.

Steel inventories held by the said key steelmakers amounted to 15.113 million tonnes as of Jun 20, up by 583.1 thousand tonnes or 4.01% from that on June 10.

There was some faint glimmer of hope as June PMI in China’s steelmaking industry rose slightly in a MoM comparison but has remained below 50 for two months. This indicates ongoing recession in the industry.

According to China Steel Logistics Professional Committee (CSLPC), the index grew by 1.9 percentage points to 48.3. According to sub indices, published in CSLPC report, raw material purchases and steel production in the country somewhat increased while raw material stocks declined.